The present disclosure relates to an infant care device and a method for operating the infant care device that adjusts the operation based upon the presence of an infant. More specifically the present disclosure relates to a system and method that adjusts alarm parameters and operating modes of the infant care device based upon whether the infant care device is occupied or unoccupied.
Premature infants are often placed within an infant care device so that they may have a controlled and monitored environment to aid in their survival and growth. Premature infants are fragile and, as such, require a highly controlled environment. As such, currently available infant care devices include a highly automated control system to maintain the temperature within the infant care device environment and to monitor the physiological state of the infant. Typically, once the infant care device has been turned on the infant care device operates in a normal operating mode to control the temperature environment within the infant care device. If the infant is removed, the caregiver must manually indicate that the infant has been removed. This manual indication by the caregiver requires the caregiver to carry out additional steps, which are often difficult depending upon whether the caregiver has a free hand or time to enter such manual indication. Thus, it has been recognized that it would be desirable to have a system and method that automatically determines whether the infant care device is occupied or unoccupied without requiring the caregiver to manually enter such status.